Diet for a hotter climate: five plants that could help feed the world

Cecilia Nowell

THE GUARDIAN
Sat, August 20, 2022 

Photograph: Hitendra Sinkar/Alamy

Over the course of human history, scientists believe that humans have cultivated more than 6,000 different plant species. But over time, farmers gravitated toward planting those with the largest yields. Today, just three crops – rice, wheat and corn – provide nearly half of the world’s calories.

That reliance on a small number of crops has made agriculture vulnerable to pests, plant-borne diseases and soil erosion, which thrive on monoculture – the practice of growing only one crop at a time. It has also meant losing out on the resilience other crops show in surviving drought and other natural disasters.

As the impacts of the climate crisis become starker, farmers across the world are rediscovering ancient crops and developing new hybrids that might prove more hardy in the face of drought or epidemics, while also offering important nutrients.

Related: Our food system isn’t ready for the climate crisis

“You hear all the statistics like, ‘We’ve lost 90% of our varieties’. It’s only recently that I realized the greatest sadness isn’t that we’ve lost that diversity. It’s that we don’t even know that we’ve lost that diversity,” says Chris Smith, founder of the Utopian Seed Project.

Here’s a look at five crops, beyond rice, wheat and corn, that farmers across the world are now growing in hopes of feeding the planet as it warms:

Amaranth: the plant that survived colonization

Indigenous farmers have long grown this drought resistant crop, which is now experiencing a resurgence. Photograph: Picture Partners/Alamy

From leaf to seed, the entirety of the amaranth plant is edible. Standing up to eight feet tall, amaranth stalks are topped off with red, orange or green seed-filled plumes. Across Africa and Asia, amaranth has long been eaten as a vegetable – whereas Indigenous Americans also ate the plant’s seed: a pseudocereal like buckwheat or quinoa.

While amaranth leaves can be sautéed or cooked into a stir-fry, the seed is commonly toasted and then eaten with honey or milk. A complete protein with all nine essential amino acids, amaranth is a good source of vitamins and antioxidants.

In the Americas, Spanish colonizers banned the Aztecs and Maya from growing amaranth when they arrived on the continent. However, the plant continued to grow as a weed and many farmers saved amaranth seeds, passing them down for generations, until their descendants were allowed to grow it again.

Today, Indigenous farmers in Guatemala, Mexico and the US are collaborating to grow this drought-resistant crop. Like fonio, an African grain, amaranth is not a new crop, but one that is experiencing a resurgence as communities adapt to the climate crisis. “Everything that’s new was old once,” said Matthew Blair, a professor at Tennessee State University and co-president of the Amaranth Institute.

Amaranth has found its way into European kitchens, with Ukraine coming in as the crop’s largest producer on the continent.

Fonio: the drought-resistant traditional grain

Farmer Jeane Pierre Kamara 49, sows fonio cereal seeds on freshly plowed land along with fellow farmers in the fields of Neneficha, south-eastern Senegal. Photograph: Andy Hall/The Guardian

For thousands of years, farmers across west Africa have cultivated fonio – a kind of millet that tastes like a slightly nuttier couscous or quinoa. Historically, fonio is considered to be Africa’s oldest cultivated cereal and was regarded by some as the food of chiefs and kings. In countries such as Senegal, Burkina Faso and Mali, fonio would be served on holy days, like at weddings and during the month of Ramadan.

Today, attention is increasingly focused on fonio for its resilience and health benefits. As the climate continues to change, fonio’s drought resistance and ability to grow in poor soil has made it a standout crop in water-scarce regions. It also has important nutritional value as a low glycemic, gluten-free grain – making it a good source of amino acids for people with diabetes or gluten intolerance.

A Freshly cooked fonio dish with chicken, served in a restaurant in the Neneficha area, south-eastern Senegal. 

Photograph: Andy Hall/The Guardian

While Europeans once called fonio “hungry rice”, European companies are now manufacturing their own fonio. The Italian company Obà Food helped introduce fonio to the EU in December 2018. And in the US, the Senegalese chef Pierre Thiam sources fonio from the aid organization SOS Sahel for his brand Yolélé, also the name of his cookbook celebrating west African cuisine.

Cowpeas: the fully edible plant

In the 1940s, more than 5m acres of cowpeas were grown in the US – the majority, as their name suggests, for hay to feed livestock. But long before cowpeas – also called southern peas or black-eyed peas – came to the Americas, they were grown for human consumption in west Africa. Although cowpea production has declined in the US in recent decades, the crop is hugely important in much of Africa. Nigeria is the world’s largest cowpea producer.

As scientists look for alternative crops, Blair said it was important to identify ones where the entire plant is edible. Although historically people have mostly eaten cowpeas’ seeds, the leaves and pods are also a good source of protein.

Because cowpeas are highly drought tolerant, they’re also a good candidate as the climate changes. At Tennessee State University, Blair is part of a team studying the introduction of cowpeas to Latin America, as an alternative to beans, like pinto and black beans, with similar flavor profiles that may soon become more difficult to grow.
Taro: adapting the tropical crop for colder climes

In the tropics of south-east Asia and Polynesia, taro has long been grown as a root vegetable, not unlike the potato. But as rising temperatures threaten cultivation of the crop in its natural habitat, farmers in the continental US are trying to adapt the tropical perennial to grow as a temperate annual, because it cannot survive the cold of US winters.

At the Utopian Seed Project in North Carolina, founder Chris Smith and his team have been experimenting with tropical crops, looking for ways to help the plants survive the winter. Today, they’re growing eight varieties of taro, including ones sourced from Korea, the Philippines, Hawaii, China and Puerto Rico.

“We want to introduce taro because we truly believe that that will give us a more secure food system,” Smith says. “But the beautiful byproduct is that that also allows us to engage with foods that are traditionally from either Indigenous or peasant farming communities. And I think it really gives those traditionally underserved populations an opportunity to engage with the food system that they don’t usually get.”

Like fonio, amaranth and cowpeas, taro isn’t a new crop – it’s just new to the US food system. Which is why the Utopian Seed Project isn’t just learning how to grow taro, but also teaching people how to cook it. “These crops are just foods that are embedded in cultures around the world in a way that they’re not embedded here,” Smith said. “It takes work to build that community and desire for that crop.”
Kernza: the crop bred for the climate crisis

While many alternative crops are just plants that were grown somewhere else in the world generations ago, others have been cultivated specifically to withstand climate change.

In the 1980s, researchers at the Pennsylvania-based Rodale Institute identified a wheat-like grass called intermediate wheatgrass as a perennial cereal crop that could be developed as a substitute for annual grains like wheat. The goal was to minimize the environmental impacts of grain production.

In 2019, the Kansas-based Land Institute, a non-profit research organization focused on sustainable agriculture, introduced Kernza, a cereal crop developed from intermediate wheatgrass and trademarked to ensure farmers know they’ve bought seeds from the official breeding program. Although researchers are still working to improve the grain’s yield, farmers in Minnesota, Kansas and Montana are today growing nearly 4,000 acres of Kernza.

“Growers immediately understand the benefits of perennials on their landscapes,” said Tessa Peters, director of crop stewardship at the Land Institute, “and for those working in grain-producing areas, Kernza is very appealing.”

How climate change threatens Kashmir's crucial apple industry

As Indian-administered Kashmir continues to witness abnormally high temperatures, apple growers fear that climate change will wipe out the region's orchards — which produce 80% of India's apples.

Apple farmers have complained that heat waves and humidity are causing dark smudges on the surface of apples

Sharp temperature variations across India-administered Kashmir have brought unseasonal snowfalls or early summers, resulting in heavy damage to apple orchards.

An almost 30% decline in apple production has dealt a serious blow to the region's biggest industry, leaving farming families with huge debts.

Nearly 1 million families are associated with Kashmir's $1.25-million (€1.23-million) apple industry — which, according to official records, produced 1.8 million metric tons last year, nearly 100,000 fewer than the previous year's crop.

Apple farmers feel the heat 

A sudden dip in temperature causes the buds to fall and prevents the movement of bees necessary for pollination. On the other hand, an abnormal rise in temperature triggers a high incidence of infectious diseases, resulting in a decline in productivity, growers say.

In March, the average daytime temperature usually hovers around 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit) — but in March this year, the mercury rose significantly, causing Kashmir's apple crop to blossom early. 

Sharp temperature fluctuations followed, resulting in the fall of the fruit buds and the spread of infectious diseases.

Farmers have complained that ongoing heat waves and humidity have caused dark smudges to appear on the surface of apples, described by experts as sooty blotch and flyspeck disease, adversely affecting the quality of the crop.

Losses in the apple industry have forced thousands of people out of the sector as traders wind up their businesses

"The past four years have given us nightmares," said Shameema Hassan, the wife of a well-known apple grower in north Kashmir's Baramulla district. "The apple crop has become vulnerable to diseases due to changing weather patterns."

"It will be either good crop but largely infected, or vice-versa," she added. 

The consequential recurring losses have sharply affected their livelihood, forcing them to move their daughter from a private school to a public one, where education is free but learning standards are abysmal, Hassan told DW.

Lost business

The northern part of Indian-administered Kashmir is known as the region's apple bowl as it produces the highest quantity of apples.

Over the decades, the apple orchards have grown through its "karewas" — or elevated tableland — and major chunks of paddy land were converted into apple orchards in order to generate higher profits.

Until 2018, Hassan's family produced 3,000 boxes of apples annually; but production has since plummeted to just 700.

The region produces 80% of India's apples

"Normally, this year I should have produced 4,500 boxes of apples because new apple trees have grown to fruit-giving age — but the production is declining," she said.

In 2016, her family had an annual turnover of 20 million rupees (€248,000). But now, losses have landed them heavily in debt.

"We owe nearly 10 million rupees to banks and apple traders," Hassan said. "We have started a copper shop to feed the family. We hate going to the apple orchards."

According to data from the meteorological department, there has been 70% to 80% less than normal precipitation in Kashmir this year.

Crop damage

Shabeena Malik, a science teacher in Kashmir, said the increased temperature has resulted in a widespread attack of aphids, causing irreversible damage to the apple trees.

"Despite multiple sprays of insecticides, these aphids have gone out of control," said Malik, whose family owns nearly 40 acres of apple orchards.

The use of substandard pesticides is also a major cause of damage to the apple, which puts an additional economical burden on growers, who are in debt in absence of insurance coverage from the government, she said.

"The intensity of insects and pests has shown an increase this year due to the early high temperature in spring," said Ashiq Hussain, a fruit scientist at the Sher-e-Kashmir University of Agriculture Sciences and Technology in Srinagar. 

"Once we cross 30-degree temperatures, the entire apple orchards get wiped out because seeds will cease to grow," she told DW.  

Hussain said Kashmir would normally never have experienced hailstorms in June. But their intensity has increased, badly damaging the apple crop.

Substandard pesticides put an additional economical burden on growers

Debt-ridden apple growers shift to other crops

As the Kashmir apple is "facing a danger of becoming a rarity in India due to recurring production losses," Malik said the farmers are gradually moving to alternative crops.

In hundreds of apple orchards across Kashmir, farmers have sown wheat, mustard, maize and legumes.

Instead of cutting down the trees, the farmers said they have brought back wheat growing, which acts a major attraction to rodents that damage the roots of the apple trees, to "facilitate their silent death."

Ghulam Hassan Bhat, 57, an apple grower in north Kashmir's Baramulla district, is among farmers with an emotional attachment to his apple orchards, which provided his main source of income for decades.

Bhat used to run an apple trade worth millions of rupees. But recurring losses over the past four years have thrown him into debt — forcing him to shut that business and turn to wheat cultivation.

"Let the rodents silently destroy the apple trees, I have started with the cultivation of wheat. The apple trade is a no-go zone for us now. It will take a lifetime to pay the debt to the banks and traders," Bhat told DW.

Saffron is one higher-value crop grown in Kashmir

Switching to low-paid jobs

The losses in the apple industry have forced thousands of people out of the sector as traders wind up their businesses.

Muhammad Shafi Var, who lives in Sheikhpora village in Baramulla district, said he was earning nearly half a million rupees annually (more than $6,000) from his apple orchard — but now he earns just $100 a month working in a hotel in south Kashmir's Pahalgam tourist resort. 

In 2018, Var produced 1,000 boxes of apples. But now, production has dwindled to fewer than 200 boxes.

Var said that if his apple orchards, which are located on elevated tableland, were to get adequate irrigation, he would cut down the trees and cultivate wheat and paddy.

"At least I can produce enough food to fill the stomachs in my family," he said.

Edited by: Keith Walker 

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K-pop: The wave of success that won't stop

K-pop has become South Korea's export hit, and the music has found a decent — and growing — fan base in Germany. What's the hype about?


Europe's first major K-pop festival was held in Frankfurt in 2022

South Korea is one of the fastest-growing music markets in the world. The reason for this: K-pop. The international spread of the music genre earns the country several billion euros a year. The fact that South Korean pop music has become so successful is thanks in no small part to social media and a networked fan community, including in Germany.

But the hype doesn't stop there: People in more and more countries are getting excited about South Korean pop music. But why are they so fascinated with it?

A mix of fun and community

"K-pop is just something that brings me joy," says Melissa Ndugwa. The 21-year-old is the co-founder of K-Fusion Entertainment, the largest K-pop fan gathering in Germany. What excites Ndugwa about K-pop?

"Listening to the music, practicing the choreography and then dancing together with others is so much fun," says Ndugwa. Dancing together is not only a popular activity among fans but a central part of K-Pop. The performance of the idols, as the Korean pop stars are called, is as important as the music. The recipe for success is catchy melodies, sophisticated choreography and slick performers.

Members of the Frankfurt K-pop fan group K-Fusion Entertainment practice their moves

K-pop metropolis: Frankfurt

The K-pop stars are role models for many of their fans in terms of beauty ideals, as well. For some years now, Korean beauty and care products have been booming in Germany. There are salons offering Korean cosmetics and skin care in several German cities, including Frankfurt. This is where Germany's largest Korean community lives, and the city has now become Germany's K-pop metropolis.

In May 2022, Europe's first major K-pop festival was held in the central German city, with 70,000 spectators. Titled KPop.Flex, it was attended by stars such as Monsta X, Mamamoo and NCT Dream. The Seoul Broadcasting System (SBS), a private television and radio station from South Korea, was also involved in organizing the event. Apparently, they suspected that Germany could turn out to be a lucrative market.

Tens of thousands of people flocked to Frankfurt for the KPop.Flex festival

"Actually, the K-pop community in Germany is still small compared to the US, Asian and other European countries. But, this year, we've noticed a big change. There have been many more concerts by Korean artists. And there has never been a festival in Europe like the one in Frankfurt," says Kocky B, the leader of the K-pop dance group Shapgang. The 12-member group from Frankfurt performs at competitions and on TikTok, where they dance the choreographies of popular K-pop bands, but also perform their own choreographies.

The standard: Perfection

Kocky B says her fascination with K-pop comes from the focus on the visual elements, dance and the colorful, in-your-face, fun production, which she has not seen in the Western music industry.

"When we started, there were few people who even knew what K-pop was. It tended to be laughed at in the dancing scene," she says. "That has changed tremendously, because the K-pop industry offers many job opportunities for dancers. People now realize how significant this market is. Many Western dancers are hired by K-pop labels to develop choreography."

In K-pop choreographies, the stars dance in flawless synchronicity, and they do so in groups of up to 20 members. It's all about synchrony, community — and perfection. This also applies to the music, as Isabelle Opitz, editorial director of the German pop culture magazine K*bang Magazin explains.

"The music itself is produced to a very high standard, and songwriters from the European region are often involved. A label will bring a huge team to Korea. There's not much that can go wrong. As a fan, you know what you're getting right from the start," says Opitz.

K-POP AS A ROUTE TO JAPAN-SOUTH KOREA RECONCILIATION?

It's time for K-pop

Yuuka Hasumi (17) is one of the Japanese youth who joined ACOPIA School in Seoul. It is a dance/vocal academy run under the ACOPIA Entertainment division. This division offers not only lessons on how to sing and dance like their favorite stars, but also on the Korean language and culture.

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Social media takes on a central role

K-pop also works so well because it offers a huge package of interaction opportunities, Opitz says. Fans watch every music video, every interview appearance and are well informed about the individual group members.

In addition, many idols star in series or movies, and communication via social media is perfectly coordinated. "Through platforms like Spotify and YouTube and social networks such as Twitter, K-pop has become more accessible; the community is more connected," Opitz says. "Even if you have nothing to do with K-pop at all, YouTube suggests content to you." Today, there is someone in every German school class who listens to K-Pop, Opitz says.

K-pop idols: Role models?

This success should not obscure the fact that there are also downsides. K-pop is a hard-hitting industrial product; the bands are put together by entertainment corporations. Young people are signed up and trained in a targeted manner — in sometimes exhausting and somewhat dubious programs. Those who are convincing get a place in a group.

The price of success is high: Time and again there is talk of gagging contracts that forbid the idols to have a relationship in public. There have been reports of eating disorders and even suicides among K-pop stars.

"Compared to the past, the community has become more attentive to the reality of the industry," says Melissa Ndugwa. Idols are still role models, she says, but are no longer glorified as much. "In K-pop, it's already a scandal if an idol dates anyone. There are stars who were ostracized for it and had to end their careers. At the same time, they are only human."

This article has been translated from German.

K-POP: THE SCANDALS AND TRAGEDIES OF 2019

More and more deaths

Cha In-ha, a popular South Korean actor-singer, was found dead at his home on December 3, 2019. A police official told media that the cause of Cha's death was not immediately known. The 27-year-old celebrity made his film debut in 2017 and was part of the Surprise U band, which released two albums. There were no reports to suggest that Cha had been a target of personal attacks or cyberbullying.

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Date 18.08.2022

Child care in Germany leaves mothers with few options to work

Too little choice, too few hours, and little political will to change the status quo is forcing mothers in Germany to either work part-time or not at all, often against their wishes. The same cannot be said for fathers.

Few mothers with children under 3 work more than 20 hours a week

Child care in Germany is often touted abroad as an enviable model that is both affordable and friendly to working parents. But in fact, mothers who have had to balance their careers with parenthood face the much more difficult reality that the system appears to be designed to keep them out of the labor market entirely.

"Our village has at least 40 children who don't have a spot in kindergarten," said Julia, a working mom who lives in Germany's southeast, "despite the fact that the government is legally obligated to provide childcare over the age of three. Local governments aren't advertising the jobs and aren't doing anything to make them more attractive. The kids that do get places are in overlarge groups, and if a member of staff is sick or quits, which is understandable given the poor pay and working conditions, those families are just out of luck."

The 38-year-old high school teacher added that "if you can't find a nanny or a day care spot, you are of course allowed to take the local government to court, but most people can't be bothered with that stress when you may end up with a spot that's a 90-minute drive away."

Women are pressured to work part-time

Susanne Kuger, an expert on child care with the German Youth Institute (DJI), confirmed that "the number of families who actually do take the matter to court is extremely low," and instead opt to "send the children to grandparents or pay for expensive private day cares and nannies if they're able. If not, one parent, usually the mother, has to reduce their hours or work or delay returning to their job entirely."

She said that "every nanny and day care center can decide what their own opening hours are," whether it's conducive to full-time work or not, and there is often pressure to pick up children by 2 pm at the latest.

Germany has well over 1 million jobs to fill in 2022. One idea being floated is to promote some of the country's 11 million part-time workers — 80% of whom are women — into these full-time positions. But providing child care is proving to be the biggest hurdle.

According to a wide-ranging study carried out by the DJI in 2020, 49% of parents with children under three say they require child care. Of these, a mere 24% is able to secure the number of hours they need to be covered with a nanny or at a day care center. For children over three, 97% require care, and only 71% of parents say they have the necessary hours covered.

But for many of those who say they have all the child care they need, the truth is that one parent has merely accepted that if they can return to work at all, they will have to work part-time.

"The expectation is clear that, for heterosexual couples, that parent is the mother," said Julia, who had to reduce her hours at work after the local government took half a year to respond to her request for child care. "It's an extremely difficult situation if you don't have a support system, such as grandparents who live nearby and are able and willing to provide child care."

High hurdles for immigrant families

The problem is even more dire for immigrant families without this social support network, Alexandra Jähnert of the DJI explained. "The system of registering children for care is complex, usually only available in complicated bureaucratic German language, and there is often a lack of support for families who are not already familiar with how German government offices work," she said, adding that the web of different laws and opportunities across 16 different state governments and countless municipal governments made the barriers for immigrants even higher. This also leads to wildly varying prices, with care costing hundreds a month in some cities, and being completely free in others.

Jähnert said that, for both foreign women and native Germans, there was also "the vicious cycle that day cares give preference to couples where both parents work. Well, if you can't find a child care spot, you can't get a job or return to your old one."

According to Alexandra Jähnert, the hurdles that make it harder for immigrant families to access childcare perpetuate gaps in education and income later in life

German tax system rigged against women

A study by the Bertelsmann Foundation in 2020 found that even before the pandemic forced more women to stay home, "having children costs mothers up to two-thirds of their lifetime earnings" due to reduced payment during maternity leave, being forced into part-time work or staying at home, as well as a quirk of the German tax system known as "spousal splitting," all three of which also reduce payments into pensions for later in life.

Spousal splitting means that married couples can choose to be placed into different tax brackets where one spouse pays significantly more than the other (usually this is the woman). This means that the couple overall pays less tax, but one partner takes home a much lower net income at the end of every month. For many, this is just another encouragement to stay home with small children rather than spend every cent of their income on child care.

As economist Marcel Fratzscher put it in Die Zeit newspaper, "scientific studies show that in no other [EU] country except Belgium does this tax effect have a greater negative impact on women's employment."

Labor market plagued by shortages

Similar studies show that within the context of the German labor market, mothers are far less likely than fathers to get invited to interviews, and much less likely to work as many hours as they'd like. This impacts their pension payments and pushes them into old-age poverty.

According to the German Economic Institute (IW), in 2021 69% of mothers with children under 3 do not work at all, though only 27% wanted to stay at home full-time. About 21% work under 20 hours a week, the IW found, largely due to the lack of adequate child care options.

"Over the past 20 years, the role of mothers in Germany has changed considerably," study author Wido Geis-Thöne wrote, particularly in how women see themselves after having children. The German labor market, however, still has far to go to catch up in allowing women to realize their desire to return to full-time work.

And child care options must also be expanded to cover that full-time work. "Day care staff must be better paid, having better opportunities for advancement, and the job itself should be changed to encourage higher education levels in staff and increased prestige as a career path," said Susanne Kuger.

"Germany needs 600,000 new staff to cover day care needs in the coming years," she added, and while there are many initiatives at the local level to increase the number of child care centers and staff, a much greater push from state and national government bodies is needed if Germany wants to promote equity between working mothers and fathers.

Edited by Rina Goldenberg

Lebanon turns to solar power to address acute energy crisis

Facing a severe energy crunch, Lebanese are increasingly turning to the sun to meet their electricity needs. But high costs remain a barrier to widespread adoption of solar power systems.

Solar panels are increasingly seen on the rooftops of buildings in Beirut

When Patrick Ardahalian moved from Saudi Arabia to Lebanon in 2010, he was shocked at the frequent power outages in the country's capital, Beirut. 

"Power outages are something I had never experienced," he said. But for the Lebanese people, the situation was different, he added. "They never experienced stable electricity in their life."

To address the country's energy crisis, Ardahalian, who is of Lebanese origin but grew up in Greece, decided to pick up solar power. 

"Lebanon is a very sunny country, and we needed electricity. I asked my dad to help me financially, and he agreed," he said. "I started from scratch. I had a marketing background, so I went to a technical school to learn about electricity. Within a few months, I launched my company: Eco Friendly." 

Ardahalian, now 48, recalled that people were initially skeptical of solar power, and did not believe it could resolve their energy problems. 

"Some people didn't believe that I could provide them electricity from the sun ... They said I was lying, and I couldn't continue the discussion," he said.

Lebanon's power crunch

Lebanon is currently battling one of its worst economic crises in decades. The country defaulted on its national debt in 2020, and its currency has collapsed in value.

An acute energy crunch is compounding problems, with households nationwide grappling with long power cuts — some regions face blackouts for up to 23 hours a day. 

The state-run utility Electricite du Liban (EDL), which accounts for about 90% of the country's electricity production, has been plagued by dire cash shortages, and has only been able to provide power to households for a few hours a day. 

Faced with power outages, many Lebanese have resorted to using expensive private diesel generators for electricity. 

Due to the nation's economic turmoil and surging fuel prices due to its weak currency, along with removal of government subsidies and the Russia-Ukraine conflict, the finances of many Lebanese households are hurting, forcing them to seek alternatives. 

Solar panels are meant to stabilize Lebanon's shaky electricty supply

Suffering in darkness

Mohamad Mahmoud Hariri, a 43-year-old living in the nation's third-largest city of Sidon, told DW that although he had suffered power outages for years, now things are far worse than in the past. 

"Without electricity, everything stops. I am convinced that things are going from bad to worse, and that the state cannot solve this problem," he said.

Hariri said that electricity prices soared following the onset of the economic crisis, pointing out that monthly rates now equal or exceed the average monthly salary of many Lebanese. 

That's why he chose to invest in renewable energy by installing a solar panel system three months ago. Hariri paid $3,000 (€2,900) for the system, which allows him to consume around 10 amps of electricity in the morning and 3 amps at night. But in winter months, he will be forced to decrease consumption as the system produces less energy. 

Hariri is not alone, as Lebanese companies and households are increasingly turning to the sun to meet their electricity needs. Banks have even begun offering loans to those looking to install solar power systems. 

However, not everyone has been able to afford solar energy, even though prices have dropped significantly over the past decade. 

Ardahalian said that he charges about $3,000 for a 5-amp system or $9,000 for a 20-amp system; prices that are out of reach for most Lebanese. 

Bilal Alabaas, an energy technician who has been active in the solar industry for the past decade, underlined how most people cannot afford those prices. He also pointed out that even after installing such a system, people still needed diesel generators, as solar panels alone cannot supply the entire energy required by a household at all times. 

Marc Ayoub, an energy researcher and associate fellow at the American University of Beirut, shares a similar view. 

He said that solar alone couldn't provide a definitive solution to the energy crisis. "People still need electricity from EDL. The solar component helps the transition to renewable sources; but that doesn't mean we don't need a central solution from the government," Ayoub stressed.

"Renewable energy starts to become a solution at the national level when communities install projects, solar farms with hundreds of megawatts. But now, people are installing solar panels for their own energy security only."

Employees at Beirut-based Mashriq Energy provide turnkey solar photovoltaic solutions

Boosting solar power capacity

Mohamad Mneimneh, founder of Mashriq Energy, a company providing turnkey solar photovoltaic solutions, described how there are some solar initiatives at the community level.

However, such projects require several permits and coordination between many different stakeholders, while red tape and the lack of a distribution system hinder their development, he added. 

Mashriq Energy recently won a tender worth about $400,000 to build a photovoltaic-diesel (PVD) hybrid system to supply the campus of the Beirut Arab University. Technicians are installing 920 solar panels that will cover from 20% to 40% of the campus' total energy requirement.

Unlike traditional solar energy systems, Mneimneh said, PVD systems don't necessarily require the use of batteries as solar energy taken from panels is used in combination with diesel generators. 

"Large energy consumers can't afford to have only a solar energy system, because this would require so many solar panels and batteries. Instead, PVD systems are attractive because they don't need batteries, which cost from $600, and you would need more than one," Mneimneh said.

Although Lebanon has yet to come up with a feasible plan to boost energy production using renewable sources, it has adopted an ambitious target to cover 30% of its energy consumption from renewables by 2030. 

According to a report by the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA), "Lebanon could realistically and cost-effectively obtain 30% of its electricity supply from renewables by 2030." But it added that for this to become reality, however, the government would need to implement existing plans and policies, which are already in the pipeline.

Pondoland: South Africa's cannabis growers left behind by legalisation plans


Vumani Mkhize - BBC Africa Business, Umthatha
Sat, August 20, 2022 

People sitting down with cannabis

For generations, people in South Africa's Eastern Cape have made their living growing cannabis. You might expect that as the country moves to legalise the crop, they would be first in line to benefit, but that is not necessarily the case.

Short presentational grey line

The drive from Umthatha to the Dikidikini village in South Africa's Eastern Cape province is a picturesque journey filled with endless vistas, scattered homesteads and winding roads which scythe through undulating green hills that could easily be mistaken for corn fields - yet they are anything but.

"That's cannabis," my local guide and cannabis activist Greek Zueni tells me. "Everyone here grows it, that's how they make a living."


Cannabis, colloquially referred to as "umthunzi wez'nkukhu," or, chicken shade, is an intrinsic part of many rural communities in Eastern Cape's Pondoland and a vital source of income.

At a homestead near the riverbank, we meet a group of men, women and children tending to a fresh harvest. Their hands are stained green from plucking the cannabis heads all day.

The pungent smell of cannabis hangs heavy in the air. They crack jokes while they work - harvesting is a group effort. A massive heap of green heads lies besides them, drying in the midday sun.

For community member Nontobeko, which is not her real name, farming cannabis is all she has ever known: "I learnt how to grow it as an eight-year-old girl," she says proudly.

"Cannabis is very important to us because it's our livelihood and source of income. Everything we get, we get it through selling cannabis. There are no jobs, our children are just sitting here with us."

While cannabis might be a way of life for this community, growing it at this scale is illegal.

There are more than 900,000 small-scale farmers in the Eastern Cape and KwaZulu-Natal provinces who have been growing cannabis for years.

These growers have found themselves on the wrong side of the law many times, but the government's tough stance on cannabis looks set to change.

It started with a landmark court ruling in 2018 which decriminalised the private use, possession and growing of cannabis.

Earlier this year during his State of The Nation Address, President Cyril Ramaphosa said South Africa should tap into the global multi-billion-dollar medical hemp and cannabis industry, which he said had the potential to create 130,000 much-needed jobs.

While this may be good news for commercial companies, traditional growers in the Eastern Cape feel left behind. The cost of getting a licence to grow cannabis is just too expensive for many.

Greek Zueni says the government needs to do more to support small-scale cannabis farmers

"Government needs to change its approach and come up with laws that are grower-friendly and citizen-friendly. Right now, the people who have licences [to grow cannabis] are rich people," Mr Zueni says.

"The government should be assisting the communities to grow so that they can compete with the world market. Here is a commodity growing so easily and organically. We are not jealous, the rich should also come in, but please accommodate the poorest of the poor," Mr Zueni says.
Turning a blind eye

Last year, the government unveiled a master plan for the industrialisation and commercialisation of the cannabis plant. It values the local industry, which has largely been operating in the shadows, at nearly $2bn (£1.6bn).

It is seeking to make South Africa's cannabis industry globally competitive and to produce cannabis products for the international and domestic market.

Key to the roll-out is the Cannabis for Private Purposes Bill, set to be signed during the 2022-23 financial year, which provides guidelines and rules for consumers and those that want to grow cannabis in their own homes.

It would legalise the cultivation of hemp and cannabis for medicinal purposes, thus opening up the industry for serious investment and growth. It is also expected to clear up legal grey areas and so provide prospective investors with clarity on the future of the South African cannabis market.

Although much still remains unclear, it seems the government is committed to opening up the industry, because the economic opportunities are too enticing to ignore. The plans have broad public support, with few dissenting voices.

While the legal framework is still trying to catch up with a fast-moving market, many companies are forging ahead in anticipation that the law will eventually open up the sector.

As it stands, even though private use has been decriminalised, it is still illegal to buy and sell cannabis and various cannabis products.

However, judging from the proliferation of shops that sell cannabis products around the country, authorities are already turning a blind eye.

Adding to this legal minefield is that it is legal for private companies to grow and export medicinal cannabis to other countries.
'Opportunities for European distribution are big'

One company that is seeking to capitalise on medicinal cannabis is Labat Africa Group. The Johannesburg Stock Exchange-listed company recently acquired Eastern Cape cannabis grower Sweetwater Aquaponics.

Labat's director, Herschel Maasdorp, says the company is undergoing significant growth in both Europe and Africa.

The Sweetwater Aquaponics facility has a large cannabis production capacity

It has also listed in Frankfurt, because "Germany is the single largest market in Europe for medicinal cannabis distribution", he says.

"The opportunities for distribution in Europe are very big. In addition to that, across borders, in Africa alone, there is a proposition that we have consolidated across a number of different countries all the way from Kenya, to Zambia to Uganda, Rwanda, Tanzania, as well as in Zimbabwe."

Legal cannabis trade on the continent is set to rise to $7bn as regulation and market conditions improve, says London-based industry analyst Prohibition Partners It says Africa's top producers by 2023 will be Nigeria with $3.7bn, South Africa $1.7bn, Morocco $900m, Lesotho $90m and Zimbabwe $80m.

In its Global Cannabis Report, Prohibition Partners is forecasting exponential worldwide industry growth: "Combined global sales of CBD, medical and adult-use cannabis topped $37.4bn in 2021 and could rise to $105bn by 2026."

Considering South Africa's stagnant economic growth and record unemployment, tapping into the cannabis industry could reap rich rewards.

For Wayne Gallow from Sweetwater Aquaponics, incorporating traditional growers in the industry is crucial for economic development in the Eastern Cape.

Sweetwater Aquaponics wants their production of cannabis to benefit local people

"What we wanted to achieve with our licence is not only to grow medicinal cannabis, but to use that licence to benefit everybody in the Eastern Cape," he told the BBC.

He admits the more traditional growers have been left behind as cannabis legislation progressed.

"The Pondoland area was synonymous with supplying the cannabis throughout South Africa," he says.

However, changes in the law had a "detrimental" effect on Pondoland farmers, because it meant anyone could now grow and consume their own cannabis, so they no longer had a market for a crop that was previously very lucrative.

Even growing cannabis to export for medicine is not feasible for small-scale farmers, because of the eye-watering costs. It requires a licence from the South African Health Products Regulatory Authority (SAHPRA) which costs about $1,465.

Besides the licence fee, to set up a medicinal cannabis facility you need about $182,000 to $304 000, which is beyond the reach of many traditional growers.

However, there is some promising news for the Eastern Cape farmers. The Pondoland or Landrace strain of the plant, which grows so abundantly in the area, has shown some encouraging results in treating breast cancer.

Sweetwater Aquaponics and the Council for Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR) are currently running a study, and scientists are optimistic that the strain will yield good results.

It is still early days, but if the Pondoland strain is found to be effective, this could be the game-changer that indigenous growers have been desperately searching for.
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German bureaucrat under fire for trashing British WWII hero who inspired Israeli army

Benjamin Weinthal
Sat, August 20, 2022 

The 10 million-member Christians United for Israel (CUFI) and the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A. joined the Israel Defense Forces in issuing an unprecedented stinging rebuke of a German official for comments about late British Major-General Orde Wingate, a WWII hero and Israeli icon.

Michael Blume, the bureaucrat tasked with fighting antisemitism for the southwestern German state of Baden-Württemberg, has repeatedly called the decorated war hero and deeply religious Christian Wingate a "war criminal" and "British murderer."

When asked about Blume’s attacks on Wingate, Israel Defense Forces spokesman Lt.-Col. Richard Hecht told Fox News Digital, "Orde Wingate’s spirit and disruptive thinking were an inspiration to the founding fathers of the IDF, and he is deeply admired until today."

Christians United for Israel Action Fund Chairwoman Sandra Hagee Parker told Fox News Digital, "Given his history of anti-Jewish bigotry, that Blume is allowed to stay in his present role is an embarrassment to the people of Germany and makes a mockery of the fight against antisemitism. Mr. Blume is plainly an antisemite who should be fired immediately."

The Chindit Memorial is a war memorial in London that commemorates the Chindit special forces, which served in Burma under Major General Orde Wingate in World War II. The memorial was erected in Victoria Embankment Gardens in 1990 near the Ministry of Defence headquarters and commemorates Wingate, who died in active service in Burma in 1944. 

Universal History Archive/Universal Images Group via Getty Images.More

CUFI is one of the Jewish state’s most important nongovernmental allies in America and the world.

Retired Col. Nelson Mellitz, national commander of the Jewish War Veterans of the U.S.A., told Fox News Digital that his organization "celebrates the extraordinary military record of Major General Orde Wingate. As a decorated British Army officer during the 1930s and World War II, Wingate’s service is revered by Israelis, Americans and the British in creating special military units."

Mellitz served 32 years in the U.S. Air Force and continues a family legacy of over 80 years serving in the JWV.

"JWV vehemently disagrees with German Commissioner Michael Blume’s characterization of Wingate as a war criminal and British murderer and urges Blume to resign or for Baden-Württemberg officials to immediately remove him from office," Mellitz said.

"Wingate’s legacy continues with streets and squares in Israel named after him, as well as Israel’s National Center of Physical Education and Sport also bearing his name. In the United States, Wingate is honored by being buried in the hallowed grounds of Arlington National Cemetery in Virginia. These lasting tributes to Wingate are fitting memorials."

The JWV was founded in 1896 and is the leading organization for Jewish uniformed service members and veterans in the United States.

"I have not heard or seen Michael Blume’s comments, but I would say that anyone in Germany looking for real war criminals would better spend their time personally examining the 70,000-plus Stolperstein (‘Stumbling Stones’), small brass plaques set in the pavement outside the last known addresses of the innocent victims murdered in Germany during the reign of the National Socialists," said military historian Tony Redding, author of "War in the Wilderness: The Chindits in Burma 1943-1944. "There are plenty of Stolperstein memorials in Baden-Wurttemberg."

Major General Orde C. Wingate was a brilliant military tactician, and his methods are still taught in military schools around the world. © CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images

OLDEST BATAAN DEATH MARCH SURVIVOR, BEN SKARDON, DEAD AT 104

Wingate famously created and led a special unit called the Chindits (officially the "Long Range Penetration Groups") that conducted guerilla warfare behind Japanese lines in the Burmese jungle. Wingate and nine other persons were returning from Burma March 24, 1944, when their USAAF B-25 bomber crashed in northeastern India, killing everyone aboard.

Former Israeli ambassador to the U.S. Michael Oren, a military historian and an expert on Wingate, told Fox News Digital that Blume "should resign." Oren, a former deputy minister in then-Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s office, also served as a paratrooper during the First Lebanon War in 1982.

Leading Israeli and British military officers issued withering criticism of Blume’s anti-Wingate remarks.

"The late Orde Wingate was a trailblazer and revolutionary military commander whose daring raids and tactics are still studied at military schools around the world," Brig.-Gen. (res.) Amir Avivi, founder and CEO of the Israel Defense and Security Forum (IDSF), told Fox News Digital, "Wingate fought gallantly against oppressors on at least three continents and will forever be enshrined in Israeli memory as a hero."

Avivi, who commanded the IDF’s Gaza Division, said "to accuse Wingate of war crimes is a reprehensible attempt to rewrite history and blemish the exceptional legacy of a British officer. This attempt should be squarely rejected. The IDSF will continue to advocate exactly the type of military strategy that Wingate embodied — initiative, creativity and a firm belief in the justness of our cause."

Israeli soldiers hold positions at Netiv HaAsara near the site where an IDF vehicle was directly hit by a rocket fired from Gaza Strip, injuring two and killing one May 12, 2021. 

Gili Yaari/NurPhoto via Getty Images

Wingate warned as early as 1937 about the need to stop the Hitler movement’s plan to exterminate European Jewry and to create a Jewish state.

"We are in for a war sooner or later – no hope now of avoiding that after the Abyssinian fiasco [Fascist Italy’s conquest of Ethiopia] – for pity’s sake let us do something just and honourable before it comes. Let us redeem our promises to Jewry and shame the devil of Nazism, Fascism, and our own prejudices," he wrote.

Col. (ret.) Richard Kemp, who commanded the British troops in Afghanistan, told Fox News Digital: "Wingate, a highly decorated British officer who was killed fighting for his country in the Second World War, bravely defended Jews in Palestine against murderous Arab gangs in the 1930s. He was a committed Zionist, revered as a hero and friend in Israel. That is enough to incite hatred from those opposed to Israel and Zionism. ISLAMOPHOBIA

"Germany, of all of the countries in the world, has a responsibility to fight Jew-hate at every turn. And for one of its public officials – whether or not he’s an antisemitism commissioner – to support this sickness is a cause for national disgrace. Herr Blume shames Germany and should resign or be fired."

The Los Angeles-based Simon Wiesenthal Center classified Blume as antisemitic last year for his activities and rhetoric against Jews and Israel.

Fox News Digital sent numerous press queries to Blume and to the Green Party governor of the state of Baden-Württemberg, Winfried Kretschmann.

Argentina's Kirchner goes on offensive over graft trial

Tue, August 23, 2022 

Argentina Vice-President Cristina Kirchner on Tuesday launched a long and politically charged defense against corruption charges, for which prosecutors have asked that she face 12 years in jail and a lifetime ban from politics.

Kirchner, 69, is accused of fraudulently awarding public works contracts in her stronghold in Patagonia.

She said on Tuesday in a live social media broadcast that her political ideology, Peronism, was on trial and that prosecutors had already "written the sentence."

"Nothing, absolutely nothing that they have said was proven," said Kirchner, a lawyer by trade who was president from 2007-15 having succeed her late husband, Nestor.

It was during those three presidential terms that the alleged graft occurred.

"It's not a trial against me, it's a trial of Peronism, of the national and popular governments," she said, brandishing during her one and a half hour speech excerpts from laws, press articles, emails and accounts.

"It is 12 years (of prison time requested), the 12 years of the best government Argentina has had in these last decades."

Kirchner was speaking from her office at the senate, where she is the president and for which she enjoys parliamentary immunity.

Even if convicted -- the verdict is expected at the end of the year -- she would not go to prison, unless her sentence were ratified by the country's supreme court, or she loses her senate seat at the next elections at the end of 2023.

Another dozen people are on trial alongside the vice president and their court statements are due to last weeks.

Kirchner has decided to mount her defense on social media after her request for an extra deposition was refused on Monday.

Several hundred supporters cheered her arrival at the senate on Tuesday, while others did the same as she left her home in an upmarket Buenos Aires neighborhood.

Such is her divisive nature that rival groups of protesters, those for and against her, congregated outside her home on Monday night after public prosecutor Diego Luciani requested she be sentenced to 12 years in jail and barred from politics for life.

Police were forced to intervene as tensions mounted.

Luciani hit out at "an authentic system of institutional corruption" which he said was "probably the biggest corruption operation the country has known."

On Tuesday, fellow South American left-wing former presidents, Bolivia's Evo Morales and Dilma Rousseff of Brazil, expressed their support for Kirchner.